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A firm balm is the quickest thing to make with neem oil that you will actually use. It takes ten minutes, three ingredients and a clean tin.
Recipe
- 40 g beeswax
- 120 g carrier oil: sweet almond, or half almond and half fractionated coconut for a softer set
- 15 g shea butter (optional; it makes the balm creamier)
- 10 g neem oil
- Melt the beeswax, carrier and shea together in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
- Take it off the heat and let it cool for a minute, then stir in the neem oil.
- Pour into tins or jars and leave to set without the lids for an hour, then cap.
That gives about 185 g of balm with neem at roughly 5 per cent. Go up to 10 per cent if you like the scent; above that it dominates. For a softer balm reduce the wax to 30 g; for a stick balm increase it to 50 g.
Scent
Neem smells nutty and sulphurous, somewhere between garlic and roasted peanuts, and it comes through in a balm. Many makers add 20 to 30 drops of an essential oil at the same time as the neem: lavender, cedarwood and sweet orange all sit well with it.
Keeping
Kept capped and out of the sun a balm lasts about a year; the carrier oil sets the shelf life. Label the tin with the date and the ingredients.
Which carriers mix well with neem: carrier oils page. Soap and other uses: what is neem oil used for?